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From: Lynn Dixon
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Really? This is innovaton?
http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/10/4702820/gold-iphone-5s-photos
They did nothing for the phone. Slightly faster processor, slightly better
camera....and its available in gold. Oh, they tacked on a useless finger
print scanner, so now you can send your fingerprints to the NSA and the
Govenment without the hassle of being arrested! YAY!
Apple has been dead when it comes to mobile devices for a long time now.
They have lost their innovative edge. (In my opinion, of course)
Lets discuss!

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From: Lynn Dixon
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Sure, a 64 bit processor in a phone is cool to say, but how really useful
is it? I am not a programmer so this is an honest question. I just don't
see a need for 64 bit on a mobile device...right now.

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From: William Wade
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Perhaps Apple is just getting in an early fix for:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year

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From: Nick Smith
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I would imagine it would be just like 64bit in the computer world, will
have to wait for programmers to start putting out software in 64 bit.
I didnt really see the need for quad core processors in phones either, but
its cool to have either way.

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From: Dan Lyke
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On Tue, 10 Sep 2013 15:14:32 -0400
Lynn Dixon wrote:
But it's got electrolytes. It's what plants crave!
I like the 2038 hypothesis (although the snarker in me wants to say
"yeah, right, an i* product lasting more than 2 years?"), but...
I suspect that the reasons they'd consider (worst-case) doubling the
memory bandwidth and memory consumption of apps is that they're laying
the groundwork for the future. The next phone probably will have more
than 2 or 4 gig of RAM, and getting the app migration worked out now
will make things smoother two or three product generations from now
when they decide to drop 32 bit compatibility.
Dan

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From: Chad Smith
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The processor is a lot faster.
- 64-bit processor
- fingerprint scanner built into the "home" button
- OpenGL ES version 3.0
- Dedicated processor just for the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass
- Highly improved camera and flash
And that's just the hardware. I'd say there was a fair bit of innovation
happening.
I'm still not going to buy one, but it is unfair to say it's just a
speedbump.
*- Chad W. Smith*

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From: Chad Smith
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Oh, and the "What am I going to do with a faster phone CPU?" snark...
Seriously? Are you still living in 1999? Do you think a phone is just a
phone?
Console-quality video games, HD video watching, recording, and editing,
desktop level apps...
Yeah, I think the horsepower won't go to waste.
*- Chad W. Smith*

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From: Keith
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In general I was unimpressed as well. They do claim the fingerprint data
is not accessible in any way by software, though, I trust tech companies
fending off the government like I trust a picket fence to keep in an angry
Tibetan Mastiff.
I would actually like to see a better way to do security on phones. My
password is difficult for a thief which means it's also difficult for me.
Also it activates at random times not at all consistent with the timeframe
of inactivity that is supposed to prompt it.
A biometric scanner is certainly defeatable, but probably not by your
average thief. That's what i'm looking for these days (and not finding),
security that's easy for me and much harder for your average thief than
simply wiping the phone and starting again. If they steal it, it sucks,
but I want them to wipe the phone rather than try to get at my data.

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From: Lynn Dixon
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Chad,
I am going to disagree. The fingerprint scanner has been on mobile phones
for a while now, so its nothing new. The Motorola Atrix had one that
worked pretty good. To me, they are kinda useless, and seems gimmicky.
64 bit is "meh" for me right now. it will be a few years before developers
take hold of it, and by then something better will be out anyways. This
won't pull me away from Android.
Why does the compass, gyroscope and acceleromoter need a separate deidcated
processor? My 2 year old Nexus handles all of them great right now,
without a dedicated processor.
As for your "faster CPU" and "desktop level apps" comment, I honestly
don't use my phone as my desktop. Until someone does true device
convergance well, I will never use my phone as my desktop, regardless of
how much horsepower it has. I need at least dual screen, high resolution
support, with full keyboard and mouse connectivity. It also needs to do
USB devices (Think storage) well.
I was really hoping the Ubuntu Phone would have become a reality. That is
true innovation. To me, this new iPhone is indeed a speedbump of
improvement.
Meet the new phone, same as the old phone.

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From: Lynn Dixon
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Keith,
I am really digging NFC as a means to security.
This is a cool project I recently backed:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mclear/nfc-ring
I plan on using the ring to lock and unlock my phone, simply by placing the
phone in my hand. Stick it in my pocket, and it locks. Take it out of my
pocket, it reads the NFC ring, and unlocks. Completely "hands free" and
unless the thief steals my ring, they cant unlock the phone.
Apple still refuses to admit the viability of NFC. I use Google Wallet all
the time to pay for my goods. Its really slick.

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From: Keith
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Lynn,
Holy crap. I was just talking to my wife the other day about this very
idea. I didn't know someone had done it. Thanks for link. I want one
immediately.
There should be a way to deactivate the ring or force the phone to lock,
only unlocked by another device at home. Otherwise someone that mugs you
can just make sure they get the ring too. Won't matter until it's widely
adopted, but eventually this will be an issue.
Thanks again,
Keith

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From: Dan Lyke
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On Tue, 10 Sep 2013 16:33:16 -0400
Lynn Dixon wrote:
So the other thing you can get with a wider memory bus... SIMD. There
may be some new compositing stuff going on, image processing related to
the OpenGL-ES improvements, perhaps?
I don't know what the API is for those things, but the reason I've used
separate processors in the past: Real-time means different things to
different people. If you're trying to do integration based on gyro and
accelerometer data (ie: local positioning), error accumulates super
fast...
Dan

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From: Dee Holtsclaw
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We're starting to build in 64-bit mode to have more heap space available
(our effective limit is a little over 2G for 32bit). The downside is
that all pointers also double in size and the executable gets a lot
larger. Which causes an even larger memory footprint ... sad to say, we
have a couple of dev machines thrashing because there's on average
around 150G in swap after we fill up the 256G of DRAM. Sure, having a
64-bit processor is cool, but not so sure they should blindly build
64-bit processes "just 'cause".

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From: Dan Lyke
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On Tue, 10 Sep 2013 20:35:05 -0400
Dee Holtsclaw wrote:
Yep. That was exactly what I saw back when the DEC Alpha first gave us
64 bit address space: "Whoohoo, no more 2 gig limit! Whoah, why'd that
2 gig scene suddenly start swapping with 4 gig in the machine?"
Gotta be careful, it's not just change the compile flags...
Dan

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From: Chad Smith
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*- Chad W. Smith*
Epic Games said it took them less than 2 hours to change their 32 bit game
to a 64 bit one.
Why do graphics need their own dedicated processor?
Seriously, I can't believe this is even a question. If you have a
dedicated processor handling that stuff, then your main CPU can deal with
what it has to deal with. If you can't appreciate that, just think of it
as adding another core.
Oh well, I guess since *you* don't use your phone like a computer, then the
whole concept should be scrapped, because obviously if you aren't using it
that way then no one else is, no should they, no could they ever.
I don't use Instagram, so it shouldn't exist. I don't use Debian, or VIM,
so those shouldn't exist either.
There are people who use their phones as remote workstations, creating and
controlling content from the palm their hand. I don't have an iPhone - or
even a smartphone, but I do have an Android tablet (several, actually, but
I only really use one) and an iPod Touch. I've used both to do some pretty
work-related type computery stuff.
Regardless of whether you personally use your phone to do anything other
than make phone calls - there are millions of people who use them for
things that need processing power. And, scoff if you will, playing games
is one of them. Mobile gaming a billion dollar industry - and has been for
at least 5 years.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news

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From: Aaron welch
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So to chime in here after reading the tech specs:
Why is there a M7 co-processor? To offload motion and positional functions
from the main A7 CPU to conserve power. The M7 supposedly uses 1/10 (no
real facts to back that up yet) the power of the A7.
64-bit memory space update is also related to graphics functions as higher
I/O rates boost performance.
I would use the sh!t out of the finger print scanner to keep from typing my
16-digit Apple ID password or as a 2-factor for a password store on my
phone.
The additional camera features are a big deal to me as I Facetime my girls
from all over the country and the light sensor would help them be able to
see me wherever I am.
Lastly, the LTE enhancements are LONG overdue. I get better data rates out
of 4G using my AT&T iPhone 5.
Just my 2 cents, digest as you see fit.
-AW

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From: Chad Smith
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Well I may have been misinformed on that one. The last chart I had seen
was based on mobile web browser usage - not sales (since that is an
indicator of how many phones are actually currently being used - not just
sold at this moment) - and it had iOS browsers at around 34% of global
mobile traffic, and Android at closer to 30% - it wasn't a huge margin, but
it was still higher. And - even if Android is outselling iOS *now* you are
still comparing one company's products (Apple's) to dozens of other
company's products (Motorola, Samsung, Sony, HTC, etc.). That doesn't
negate that Android may currently have a larger market share - but the fact
that it's even a race says there is a market for it.
Let me put it this way - if Ford was selling 50% as many cars as - EVERY
OTHER CAR MAKER IN THE WORLD COMBINED - then they'd be doing pretty damn
good. (If you want to include Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and Symbian, etc.
in the analogy - then say "as every other *non-racecar* car maker in the
world" or "Non-electric" or some other exclusion to remove 10% or less of
all cars on the market.)
*- Chad W. Smith*